Phrygia, stood on a small tributary of the Maeander, from which it was distant 15 or 20 miles, and was 5 miles N. of Laodicea. It was celebrated for the worship of Cybele, here celebrated with great pomp, for its warm springs, which formed stalactites sometimes attaining an immense size, and for its Plutonium. This was a large cave, from a fissure in the floor of which exhaled a noxious vapour, said to poison all who breathed it except the priests of Cybele. The city was probably founded by the Greeks, Hierapolis though the history, alike of its rise and of its decay, is unknown. Its ruins, which are near a place called Pambuk-Kalesi, have often been visited and described by modern travellers, who likewise describe the extant stalactites, some of which have now reached the size of small hills.

(as it was called by the natives) Bambyce, in Syria, obtained its name of "the sacred city" from having been the principal seat of the worship of the Syrian goddess Astarte. It was the most important city in the district of Cyrhestice, and was about 22 miles distant from the right bank of the Euphrates. Under the Seleucide it became a great commercial mart from its being on the great highway between Antioch and Seleucia. The Emperor Constantine made it the capital of the province Euphratensis, and it plays a conspicuous part in the Eastern campaigns of Julian; but with the establishment of Christianity and the abolition of the old worship, Hierapolis fell into insignificance and decay. Its ruins were in modern times first discovered and described by Maundrell, but the position of the city was first accurately fixed by Col. Chesney in the course of his expedition. Of the ancient remains the most important are two temples, a larger and a smaller. The massive architecture of the larger one, splendid even in ruins, seems to point it out as the scene of the worship of Astarte. The other ruins are chiefly Mohammedan. The modern name of the place is Kara Bambuche or Membigz.

Hierax, a bishop of Leontopolis towards the close of the third century, who expounded Scripture on allegorical principles, and attracted a number of followers, who from him were called Hieracites.

Hiero I. and II., kings of Syracuse. See Hieron.